MILWAUKEE– From the start of Ferris hockey’s opening-round matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off, they were outplayed.
A salvageable 2-0 deficit to end the first period was followed by five goals, four of which came in the roughly six minutes, in the second period. In the 8-0 loss, the Bulldogs allowed the Badgers to gather 59 shot attempts compared to Ferris’ 23.
Before tonight, it had been three weeks since the Bulldogs took the ice. Head coach Bob Daniels cited the hiatus as a driving reason for the lackluster performance.
“In retrospect, as I look at it, it was more of a scheduling probably snafu than it was anything else,” Daniels said. “Our last game was December 6. We had three weeks off, and when we went on break, we had just gone four and one in our last five, we were playing pretty good hockey.”
Daniels also stated that they “couldn’t have played any worse,” believing his players lacked “jump” and that they “didn’t have the legs.”
Both offensive and defensive failures marred Ferris’ first period against Wisconsin. Defensively, the Bulldogs conceded 23 shots, two of which found their way behind graduate goaltender Noah West.
Already down 2-0, Ferris’ offense did not act as a counterpunch to the defensive miscues. The Bulldogs were unable to set up in the Badgers’ zone and came out of the first frame with five shots as a result.
The bleeding worsened in the second period. The Badgers added another five tallies to make it 7-0 on an additional 14 shots. With under a second left in the third period, Wisconsin tacked on its eighth and final goal to cement an 8-0 shutout loss for the Bulldogs. Four Badgers collected all eight goals, with each of them scoring two apiece.
West stopped 51 shots in the loss, which gives the veteran a .864 save percentage (51/59).
Ferris’ tournament run isn’t over, however. The Bulldogs will get a shot for a third-place finish against Alaska Fairbanks tomorrow. The Bulldogs are familiar with the Alaska Nanooks, having played them at the GLI tournament last year.
The third-place game against the Nanooks is scheduled for 1:30 CST (2:30 EST) on Sunday, Dec. 29.